small image in 300d viewfinder

[firstmoon]

i observe that the image seen thru the 300d viewfinder is significantly smaller than those seen thru viewfinder of several f-slr.

i checked the spec: viewfinder magnification for 300d is bigger at 0.88x, compared to that for my old nikon 601's 0.68x, but the image in nikon's viewfinder is bigger. likewise the comparison w other canon f-slr.

why is this so? is this particular to the 'cheap' design of 300d? what about that in other dslr 10d or d100? do the owners of those d-slr observe?

is it because of the 1.6 cropping factor?

will appreciate if somebody can offer some explanation.

 

[chucks]

Not a straightforward answer to ur qn, but u can read this:

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/viewfinders.shtml

 

[firstmoon]

indeed a comprehensive article about how a viewfinder works. thanks, chuck.

however, it does not answer my question n curiosity.

first of all, the spec of 300d viewfinder is very good at .88x magnification, 95% coverage, 20mm eyepoint (considered high).

compared this to my old nikon 601: 0.75x magnification, 93% coverage.

yet, what i see is very small image in the 300d viewfinder compared to the nikon (and other f-slr that i have seen, for that matter). the image in the nikon f-slr was large filling the whole viewfinder frame, whereas the image in 300d slr is a tiny peck inside the viewfinder frame with black surrounding.

i m just really wondering whether it is because of the cropping factor, so what i m seeing is a 'cropped' image.

any other thought.

 

[StreetShooter]

Yes, it's the crop. The viewfinder shows only the portion of light coming through the lens that falls onto the CCD/CMOS. 0.88X magnification divided by 1.6X crop factor gives you a real magnification of only 0.55X of the full frame covered by the lens. Compare this with the 0.68X magnification of your film SLR. You will also notice that the viewfinder is dimmer than that of your film SLR. Finally, the 300D uses a pentamirror arrangement, instead of the pentaprism arrangement, used by the 10D, which gives a slightly brighter viewfinder image.

*I hope I know what I'm talking about*

 

[chucks]

Post edited: Different ways of measuring coverage is possible but not magnification since this is supposed to be in absolute sense.


I believe the image boundary is different for both cams, since u said the 601 image is bigger, but what about an specific subject in the image?

 

[chucks]

Yes, it's the crop. The viewfinder shows only the portion of light coming through the lens that falls onto the CCD/CMOS. 0.88X magnification divided by 1.6X crop factor gives you a real magnification of only 0.55X of the full frame covered by the lens. Compare this with the 0.68X magnification of your film SLR. You will also notice that the viewfinder is dimmer than that of your film SLR. Finally, the 300D uses a pentamirror arrangement, instead of the pentaprism arrangement, used by the 10D, which gives a slightly brighter viewfinder image.

*I hope I know what I'm talking about*

Hmmm....0.88x/1.6? :dunno:

The 1.6x fov crop will result in a smaller image, thats for sure.

But wat I wanna know from firstmoon is regarding the viewfinder magnification, since he brought it in in the first place, and since this number is supposed to be in absolute sense.

 

[firstmoon]

I believe the image boundary is different for both cams, since u said the 601 image is bigger, but what about an specific subject in the image?

yes, it was also bigger in 601. overall picture looked bigger in 601. i looked at viewfinder, set at a certain focal length and compared betw the 2 cams.

i also compared against what my eyes saw w/o camera. w 601, it's almost 1:1, but it's smaller w 300d.

anyway, i will take a second look and take into consideration the 1.6 fov and let you know.